Tribeca triplex penthouse

By: ODA

Photographs: Frank Oudeman 10 Hubert is a triplex penthouse designed by ODA New York (principle Eran Chen) for a five story Romanesque revival warehouse in NYC’s TriBeCa neighborhood. The building has had several dramatically different incarnations throughout its life: it was commissioned by a liquor merchant in 1982, later taken over by a pistachio baron, then occupied in recent years by an artist who let it fall derelict. The current owner bought it on EBay (!), choosing Chen and ODA to redevelop it as apartments and a storefront, an enterprise that involved restoring the facade, constructing a 1,000 square foot pavilion on the roof (which could not be visible from the street, per requirements by the Landmark Preservation Commission), and combining that pavilion with the two original top levels to create a 14,000 square foot triplex in which the owner could live. When ODA took on the project, the interior brick on the triplex’s lower two floors was intact—though it required patchwork—and original ceiling beams were reclaimed. Outside, the brick façade has been restored and enriched with terra-cotta and brownstone details. New elements—like the steel catwalk that rims the double-height living area—are thoughtfully contextual, hearkening back to the typical 19th-century cast iron architecture that once dominated the area.